More walkable urbanism is good for everyone

By
David Alpert

Lydia DePillis asks whether the transformation of Tysons Corner into a real city will be good or bad for DC. Will it?

Definitely. First off, there's plenty of demand for walkable urbanism to go around. The high prices for more desirable, walkable DC neighborhoods shows that there are plenty of people wanting to live in such areas.
Christopher Leinberger "likens [walkable centers in the region] to infielders on a baseball team, with D.C. as the pitcher, Silver Spring on first base, and Tysons as the short stop," DePillis writes. "They all have a role to play, they all have a different skill set," he told the City Paper. "There's overlap, and they might be competition to get that ball. But generally speaking, they will go after discrete market segments that aren't being served."

A little bit of the unmet demand does push less desirable rowhouse neighborhoods to gentrify, but much of the demand ends up pushing people to suburban, car-dependent areas where they don't want to be. People who want to live in traditional suburban houses should be free to do so, but I hear from many folks who live in a place like Germantown that really wish they could live in Bethesda.

There are lots of jobs in Northern Virginia, and that's not going to change.

David Alpert is founder and editor of Greater Greater Washington . The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.